


Philia, Eros, Storge, Agape

by bookfairy_writes



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 17:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2659820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookfairy_writes/pseuds/bookfairy_writes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Greeks defined love in four ways: between friends, romantic love, familial love, and unconditional love. Reid and Shannon discuss it after he reviews one of the translations she's working on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Philia, Eros, Storge, Agape

"Shannon,"

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure this line is translated correctly?"

"If I was sure it all made sense, I wouldn't have asked you to read it."

Reid sighed. "Well I don't speak Greek, but I'm pretty sure you have to translate ' _storge_ ' or at least define it."

"Highlight it, would you?"

"I am, just making a note."

Shannon looked up from her book to where Spencer sat on the other end of the couch, skimming through a binder full of papers separated by tabs. She always kept her translations-in-progress in that binder and after she had struggled with a particular analysis involving the various Greek words for love, Reid had offered to take a look at the paper. The book in her lap was blessedly in English, Ender's Game. Something she had already read before, just distracting enough to ease her mind.

Spencer closed the binder, making a few notes on a sticky note before adhering it to the cover.

"Done."

"How bad is it?"

"Not too bad. Interesting, though you still need to work a few passages to make them more clear."

"That's the trouble with this paper," Shannon sighed, closing her book to run a hand through her dark brown hair. "English just has 'love' and that's it. The whole point of this paper is to break that down in the context of the Biblical document she's analyzing, and the different forms don't have a simple, direct translation."

"You know, it's not uncommon for there to be words that just don't translate."

"Spencer...I know. I'm a linguist."

He smiled at her.

"Yeah, but you're frustrated. Just reminding you that it's not uncommon."

"I know, you're right." Aloud she said the phrases, the mishmash of English and Greek. "I love you. _Storge, agape, eros, philia_. I love you like a brother, I love you like a god or parent, I love you as lovers do, I love you, my friend."

She let her head drop onto the back of the couch, sighing.

"For a medium to foster communication and understanding, it's certainly not helping now."

Reid shrugged.

"There's always the thesaurus."

"True." She paused. "I'm sorry, Spencer. Usually I'm more engaging. We can talk about something other than my job."

"Part of friendship is the fact that the relationship is mutually beneficial. Right now, this conversation benefits you."

" _Philios_ , huh?"

" _Philios, storge, eros, agape_ ," he repeated. "It is odd that most synonyms in English can cover all four. Appreciation, admiration. Enamored is mostly _eros_. Adoration is a stretch for all four, but it can be done. A crush is _eros_ as well...sort of."

"The higher a value a culture puts on a thing, the more words we have for it," Shannon said absently. "Our culture has many words for money, for sex, and for food. Consumables."

"Maybe that's because of the short-livedness of each," Reid suggested. 

"Maybe. I feel like a terrible friend, I forgot to ask how the case went."

"We caught him. He can't hurt anyone else."

"Good day or bad day?"

"Okay," he set the binder down on the coffee table in her apartment's living room. "It could have been worse."  
"Do you want to talk about it?"

"What happens to the victims always makes you feel sick."  
"Friendship is a mutually beneficial relationship," she parroted and he smiled halfheartedly.

"All right, but if you start to feel sick, I can stop."

"Your turn to talk, my turn to listen."

Moving closer to him on the couch, Shannon waited for Spencer to lean against her, which he did. Like every other member of the BAU, he was only human. He had to unburden himself sometimes, from all the death and pain he saw. Against Shannon's shoulder, he relaxed a little and began to tell her about his past few days in Iowa, where a serial killer was leaving a trail of bodies. 

"It just makes me wonder, sometimes," he said. "How long do we have to do this before we're catching more than are being made. No one is born to be a killer."

"Lack of _storge_ ," Shannon muttered, half to herself.

"Sometimes," Reid responded, continuing her story.

Long after he had finished, they sat there on the couch, listening to the low rumble of the heating system and a CD she had put on, something from China with a delicate sound that Western music couldn't seem to capture. Both sat, the same thought going through their minds, though one was in Greek, and one in English.

_Which love is this?_

 


End file.
